Lost and Found
by wavetail
Summary: Years after Wanda wakes up in her new body, she and the rest of the gang go on a raid. Wanda never returns. What happened? How is Ian dealing with her loss? The summary sucks. Please give the story a chance. Read & Review. The Host rulez all! Yay!
1. chap 1

**So here is a summary of what's going on:**

Melanie, Jared, Ian, and Wanderer are all out on a raid. Wanderer is collecting nonperishable food and clothing as usual. Meanwhile, her human friends have been gathering up a few host bodies with souls in them. Wanderer and the others were planning to take the bodies back to Doc and Candy so the souls could therefore be removed and shipped off planet, and everyone could make an effort to revive the lost human memories.

Wanderer has been cooperative and helpful, but she is uncomfortable with the situation. She therefore puts this responsibility entirely on her adopted family's shoulders, saying that she couldn't bear to watch as her own kind being lured to the back of the van, not knowing what was coming for them. The others sympathized, but knew that they had to continue this duty on by themselves. This relaxed Wanderer, not having to kidnap her own kind by herself, and life went on.

However, as Wanderer and the others made their way back home at the end of the raid, with 6 host bodies stolen, the absences of the six souls had been noticed. Seekers were sent out. There were whispers of humans in the area. Every town was searched for any signs of humans. Many souls were interviewed for any suspicious signs. A seeker somehow links the absences of the six souls to the absences of Wanderer and her seeker. Wanderer somehow learns of this information on her next raid. She orders her human companions to stop collecting bodies and explains of the news. It looks like the rebels would have to lay low for a while.

But it doesn't stop there. All of the seekers in the area have been putting two and two together. Someone mentions a kind, child-like, soul. The description was that she had a small body with a sweet face. She had golden hair and hundreds of freckles. The seekers begin to interview the souls that had interacted with Wanderer. The seekers falsely conclude that the soul "Wanderer" was kidnapped by the humans, and forced to do their bidding and/or the original host mind had taken over the body. A search is immediately formed to find the sweet girl and rescue the soul trapped inside the body. Wanderer is unable to learn about this recent update of information due to the fact that she and the humans have decided to remain isolated inside the caves for a while. The seekers are patient, they wait.

Finally, the humans decide that all is well, and send Wanderer and her friends out on another mission. The seekers find Wanderer and trap her. In the following chapters, the story will truly begin, and you will hear the tale of how Ian deals with Wanderer's loss, and how Wanderer survives her new life in a different body, back amongst civilization.

**Author Note**

**Do you like it? Please write a review with suggestions, comments, or any of the sorts. The official story will begin next chapter. **

**The HOST rulez all!!!!!**


	2. chap 2

**Wanderer's POV**

I was running. Running for my life. No, not mine. I was running for _their_ lives.

The seekers were bearing down on me. I could hear their voices calling, pleading me to stop, to listen. I would have stopped, but that meant risking the lives of every single human back in the caves. I would lose them forever. I would lose Ian forever.

So I barreled on.

The streets were dark and empty. The echoes of the seeker's hurried footsteps behind me bounced off of the tall building walls, so it sounded as if a hundred seekers were swarming around me, each coming from a different direction.

I felt around for my pill in my jacket pocket. This was it. The finality. I would die rather than give myself up to my gentle brothers and sisters. I would die for the humans.

But the pill wasn't there! It must have slipped out while I was running. I swore internally. I honestly considered taking a leaf out of Melanie's book. Maybe I could jump of a building, or a bridge, or an elevator shaft. But there was nothing around of the sort.

I was tiring. My body wasn't physically capable of running long distances. As long as I was swearing to myself, I might as well curse Mel and Jared too. They just had to get me a body that was practically useless. I realized that they would probably all die due to this careless mistake. Well, live and learn. Literally. Of course I had a bad feeling that they wouldn't be living long enough to figure out what they did wrong.

I rounded a street corner, my breathing labored, hoping I could throw the seekers off, but my hopes immediately vanished as soon as I saw the large dark shape of a seeker loom up in front of me. It was a trap!! And I had allowed myself to be lured right into it.

I tried to scream, but strong hands caught me, and a hand clamped over my mouth, blocking off the shriek of terror that was about to escape from my lips.

The other seekers had caught up by now; all of them swarming around me, creating a tight circle so all means of escape were impossible. I could barely see, but I made out one seeker stepping forward, a small object clutched in his or her hand. He/she waved it in the air above my face, creating a little puff of mist. Raspberry scented mist.

I registered with horror, what it was, and I did my best to restrain from taking a breath of the scented mist. But just then, the seeker who had caught me thrust me foreword so my face was right in the middle of the little cloud of medicine. Automatically I caught a whiff of the sweet air.

Suddenly I was falling, darkness folding around me. I felt my consciousness slipping. But in my last seconds of awareness, I was able to spot something that the seekers could not.

Two dark shapes stood on the rooftop of the building towering above us. I could see them lean over the edge in order to keep their eyes on my helpless form. Melanie and Jared. It seemed to me that, despite how far away they were, I could see the fear, hurt, and anger toward the seekers show clearly in their eyes. Melanie clung close to Jared, tears streaming down her face. Wait, that wasn't right. I could see Jared _restraining_ Mel from coming down to save me. Jared was smart to stop her. Melanie wouldn't stand a chance.

Then I saw a third figure appear upon the roof, just behind Melanie and Jared. They didn't seem to notice him as he peered over the edge. Horror, anger, pain, and love washed over his face all at the same time. I would always know that face.

Ian.

Ian was forced to stand there and watch me as I was carried away, knowing he probably won't ever see me again. Knowing that there was pretty much nothing he could to save me.

In the split millisecond before darkness completely consumed me, it seemed that I could see Ian's face up close. I saw his lips twitch, forming three solitary, silent words, that I could barely understand. But I understood.

Ian had said, "_I love you_."

**Author's Note**

**So, do you like it? Please review and tell me. I am totally open to suggestions for stuff or ideas in future chapters. **

**The HOST rulez all!!!!!!!**


	3. chap 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Host. Stephanie Meyer does. The plot is my own.**

**Melanie's POV**

"Jared," I hissed to the inside of the van. "Where are you?" No answer. I bit my lip in tension. Something was wrong. I could tell by peering out the window from the passenger's seat of the big van. No one was outside. No one was walking down the streets. All of the stores were closed. No cars were parked on the streets. This was a busy little town, where you could always count on seeing _some_ people out and about at any hour of the day. Today there was nothing. Not even a car drove by. Something was very wrong indeed.

"Jared?" This time my voice was scared, pleading. "Come out please."

"I'm right here Mel." Jared emerged from the darkness in the back of the van. His eyes swept over my half worried, half relieved expression. "I was just checking on the… well…you know…" He didn't have to finish for me to understand. Jared was checking on the bodies. The human bodies with the souls in them. We had to make sure that none of them gained consciousness and escaped. We did this by squirting a little puff of the raspberry mist over their heads every few hours. We wasted a lot of knock-out medicine that way, but it was necessary. We always picked up bodies from towns and cities only a few hours' drive away, mainly to conserve medicine, and so the bodies wouldn't have to go long without food or water. It wasn't a situation that we were all particularly comfortable with, but it was necessary. None of us were at ease raiding nearby towns, but like I said, it was our only choice. I suppose Jared had gone back to give the bodies their third dose of medicine for the day.

"What's wrong?" Jared's voice brought me crashing back to the present. He climbed over into the driver's seat and pulled me into his lap, kissing my forehead. "What's wrong, Melanie?" He asked a little more forcefully, when he realized that his comfort did nothing to soothe the wild look in my eyes or the fact that my hands were clenched together in tight fists on my lap.

"Jared…have you looked outside yet?" I asked in a small voice.

Jared immediately grew tenser two. He pulled me tighter into his chest holding me securely against him, as if he was protecting me from whatever strange atmosphere clung to the outside world. "Yes, I've noticed that too." He replied after a minute of tense silence.

"What's going on out there? Do you have any idea?"

"No, I don't. Sorry, Mel. We'll get out of here soon."

Then fear sank heavy in my chest, squeezing my stomach and putting pressure on my chest, making it hard to breath. Jared watched my change in expression with immediate concern and intense fear locked into his golden eyes.

"Mel? Melanie!" He gripped my shoulders and shook them slightly. "What's wrong!" he demanded for the third time in the past ten minutes.

"Where are Ian and Wanda?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Oh," Jared said as he relaxed slightly although I did not move from my tense pose. "Ian left this afternoon to park the truck in a spot where it would hopefully go unnoticed. It was his idea, he was the first to spot the change outside, and we agreed we shouldn't just leave the car parked on the streets. Its lucky we found this ally for the van." He motioned around us. I knew he was referring to the small ally we were parked in, which luckily we found big enough to hid the van in.

"And Wanda…" I said, panic seeping into my voice.

"Mel, relax," Jared said with a chuckle. "She left with Ian. She said she would just go out shopping for a few things…" Horror dawned on his face as he realized what he was saying.

"The seekers know," we both said in unison. Dozens of different emotions were running through my body - anger at ourselves for being so stupidly careless, hatred toward the seekers, relief for the explanation to the empty world outside (the seekers must have ordered everyone to stay inside due to rumors of humans in the area), confusion of how the seekers could possibly know about Wanda in the first place, but strongest of all: fear for Ian, a human companion who I had grown to trust and care for as an individual (after I maintained control of my body and was reassured that he really was in love with Wanda and not just my body), but most of the fear was generated toward Wanda, Wanderer, my sister, and her safety.

"We need to go find them _now_!" I shouted at Jared. He gave a terse nod and I could see he had been about to say the same thing.

We stumbled out of the van and raced back down the dark alley ways, picking at random until we crashed out of the dark little spaces to find ourselves face to face with glaring sunlight, and the main highway that traveled through town. Jared pushed me down on the ground while he dropped to his stomach. I then saw what he had reacted to. Out on the highway, maybe a hundred yards away, were a group of seekers, leaning up against a shiny, black car. There were five of them. Two had walkie-talkies in their hands, and were communicating with other seekers through those. The other three were watching the landscape, their eyes sweeping back and forth, trained to be alert to any small change. Miraculously, they didn't see us.

"_Jared!_" I hissed. "We have to get away from here. There's no way that-"

"Shhhhh," he cut me off with a wave of his hand. I sat there fuming and desperately trying to come up with an escape plan.

"Melanie, _listen_." And then I heard it. I was able to faintly pick up the voices emitting from the two radios that the seekers carried. Shock and agony settled in as I realized what the voices were saying.

"_We found the blond haired soul,"_ the voice crackled from the speaker. There was no doubt that that soul was Wanda.

"Perfect, make sure you get her cornered," seeker-with-the-radio-number-one said. I had the impulse to go over there and strangle him.

_"Yeah, we got it all set up, but we can tell that she's figured out what's going on. She's smart this one. Not like other souls. She'll make a great seeker when we get her out of that body."_ I heard Jared's knuckles crack has his hands clenched into fists. I could tell he wanted just as much as I did to go over there and beat the crap out of every single seeker.

"Yeah well, you have to catch her first."

"_We're on it, we're on it, but I'm telling you! She's good."_

"Where are you? If you're close, maybe we'll be able to intercept her," seeker-with-the-radio-number-two replied.

"_Oh we're really close. We're chasing her about two blocks to your left, and the great thing is, she's headed straight towards you."_

"Excellent, we'll get her." The five seekers then climbed into the black car and zoomed off down the highway exit, taking no notice of the two very unusual lumps of rock hidden right behind the measly desert scrubs.

Jared and I just lay there with horror and helplessness displayed clearly on our faces for a few seconds after the seekers left.

Then we caught each other's eyes and we exchanged wordless nods. We both knew what had to be done. We leapt up and started sprinting back down the main streets. Luckily, no more seekers were around, all having been attracted to Wanda's point of location.

Then we heard a wordless shriek of terror. My blood stopped cold. I knew only of one body that would have been able to make a noise like that. Wanderer's body.

Jared and I immediately changed our direction and sprinted toward the noise. As we neared the place where we heard the little scream, we saw more and more vehicles. Cars that belonged to the seekers, no doubt.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I was ready for anything. I was ready to battle off a thousand seekers in order to save Wanderer's life. My sister.

"Mel!" Jared's voice came from behind me. I whipped around to see that he had stopped running, and that he was pointing to some fire escape ladders on the side of a tall building. Of course! We could run around on the rooftops looking for Wanda, and the seekers would have a lesser chance of spotting us.

Jared and I quickly clambered up the long metal ladders, creating as little noise as possible, our breathing labored. When Jared reached the roof top, he reached over and gave me his hand, pulling me up to the top with him.

A breathless little scream that was immediately cut off, came down from the street to our left, right next to the building that we were standing on. I swear my heart must have stopped. Jared and I cautiously made our way over to the edge of the roof, and peered down the side.

Wanda was down there, and the seekers had caught her.

No amount of emotional and physical pain, and suffering that I had experienced over the past few years could have ever prepared me for the agony that exploded in my chest, as I watched my dear Wanderer, my sister uselessly struggle against the giant seeker which had caught her. Tears streamed down my face. It was too late. We could not save her. But that did not stop me from making a motion to climb down and protect her. Jared stopped me, and held me tightly to his side with strong hands. I knew that struggling to break free would be useless.

The same seekers had been talking into the radios out on the highway were clustered right next to Wanda. One of them stepped forward and squirted a little bit of cherry mist in the air above her face. I could see her feebly struggling to refrain from taking a breath. But the big seeker shoved her forward so she got a mouthful.

As she blacked out, I could see in the last seconds of consciousness that she spotted us, up on the roof, gazing down on her. Her silver eyes swept over our forms, and then she caught eye with something else. I didn't know what it was, or care. I couldn't tear my eyes from her doomed form.

Wanderer lost consciousness, and fell toward the ground. The big seeker caught her before she could hit the asphalt. He picked her up with great care while the other seekers were congratulating themselves.

"Alright," one said, "let's get her back to headquarters before she wakes up again."

All of the other seekers agreed, and one by one, they all clambered into their vehicles and drove away. Jared and I watched with tears streaming down our faces as a larger group of seekers carried her off of to a large truck. The gently laid her down in one of the back seats, and the rest of them climbed in, and speed off.

It took several minutes before Jared or I could say anything. I looked up at his face, his arms still locked around me, and saw the pain that was displayed on his face, similar to my pain. I realized then that part of Jared was in love with Wanda, and always would be. That's what I get for forcing all of my Jared/Jamie memories on Wanda. This almost had to be as hard for him as it was for me.

"Jared," my voice was broken, and the word was a sob. "What are we going to tell Ian?"

Jared seemed at lost for words. But just when he opened his mouth to reply, a familiar voice disturbed the quiet from behind us. "There's no need to tell me anything, Melanie Stryder." The voice broke slightly, "I saw it all."


	4. chap 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Host, although the plot is my own.**

**Melanie's POV**

Jared and I nearly jumped out of our skins when we heard the voice. Whipping around we came face to face with Ian. He looked terrible. He clothing was disheveled and his hair was windswept. Despair was etched in the lines of his face. He didn't look mad or angry or horrified, he looked…well…sad. But that's an understatement. Half-dead would be a more precise word. I looked into his deep blue eyes. They held no spark or glimmer; they didn't burn or warm as you could usually see. There was no glow about them. His eyes looked…empty. Blank. As if they were unseeing to the rest of the world. Looking into them, I saw nothing of the human Wanderer loved. Instead I saw a man who had no reason left to exist. It was as if Ian, a person I had come to care for, had been dragged off along with Wanderer, leaving empty, glassy eyes, with no emotional tie to the rest of the world.

"Ian…I…I," I had nothing to say to him. No words of comfort. No reassurance. I could not lie to him, so instead I stood there stuttering in my own sorrow.

"Spare me, Melanie. You don't have to say anything." Ian turned his head slightly so he would be looking sat Jared. "That goes for you too."

"But, Ian-" Ian cut Jared off with a wave of dismissal. He turned on his heels and started walking toward the fire escape ladder. "Let's get out of here guys," he called over his shoulder.

But then I rushed forward, caught Ian on the arm and the spun him around to face me. His empty eyes locked onto mine. I stared straight into them, willing myself to speak without my voice turning into sobs. "But Ian, you can't just walk off _and leave her_."

Ian just stared at me with grief and a hint of exasperation. "Yes, I can, Melanie." He spoke slowly, and I had the feeling that he was trying to convince himself more than to convince me. "And I'm asking you to walk away too." He began to turn around, but then Jared stood between him and the exit, his arms folded tightly across his chest, eyes blazing with anger.

Ian sighed. "If you two have something to say, just get it off your chest," he snapped at both of us. Jared spoke through gritted teeth. "How could you just walk away and let the seekers have her. I'd expect you, of all people, to be the most motivated in an action to go and save her."

"Hmm. Now according to my memories," Ian said, his voice low, dangerous, and extremely sarcastic, "that when Wanderer and Mel first came to the caves, I think that _you_ were the one who shoved Wanda into a storage chamber, interrogated her, and even made a motion to kill her once or twice. Now, _I'm_ glad that it all worked out. Mel got her body back and Wanda was able to stay here, but I think you would understand if I couldn't see how _you_ would give a damn about what happened to Wanderer one way or the other." And with that verbal slap in the face, Ian darted around Jared, slid down the ladder, and out of sight.

Jared just stood there for a moment with shock displayed clearly on his face, before he wielded around and sprinted after Ian. I just stood there, thinking that Jared and Ian shouldn't be fighting, especially at a time like this. I sighed, and quickly followed them, part of me driven forward by the need to smooth over the quarrel between the two idiots, part driven by the pure instinct to do _something,_ and part of me driven by the part in me that was full of fear of being caught by the seekers. I had absolutely _no_ intention of repeating that process again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several minutes later, I finally reached our van. The jeep was there too. I guess Ian had returned it while Jared and I were looking for Wanda. I silently crept around the back of the van, hoping not to disturb either of my two companions. To my surprise, as I neared the doors to the van, I did not hear raised voices. I would have expected Ian and Jared to be arguing loudly. I slowly reached out and took the door handle to the passenger side of the van, and popped it open. I quietly peered in, and to my surprise, I found Jared in the driver's seat, apparently calm, staring blankly ahead of him, as if he was deep in thought.

He turned his head and nodded in my general direction, the only sign I received of his acknowledgment to my presence.

"Hey," I said quietly, as I slid into the seat beside him, closing the door with and almost inaudible _click._

"Hi," Jared whispered. I just sat there staring at him, until I forced my lips to move.

"So…," I began. Jared turned to look at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I cleared my throat and started again. "Do I dare ask?"

If I hadn't been watching his expression so closely, I doubt I would have caught the little flicker of a smile that passes across his face, before his expression was consumed with sorrow. Jared heaved a sigh and began to speak.

"Well, I caught up with Ian about halfway back to the van and was about to ask what the _hell_ problem was –although it's pretty obvious what his problem is-, but I didn't need to. Ian just apologized. He said sorry for yelling and me and snapping at you." Jared's eyes darted quickly in my direction to see my reaction, and evaluate my shocked expression. He just gave a broken little laughed, that sounded for forceful than genuine, and continued on.

"To be honest I kind of understand his reaction. It's hard loosing someone like that. I remember how it was." Jared looked at me when he said that.

I just shook my head, tying to wrap my head around the sudden turn in events. I gave up and started to ask another question. "Where-" I began, but I didn't need to finish, for Jared already knew what I was going to ask.

"Ian's back checking on the bodies," Jared said, "He said he wanted to be left alone for a few minutes. Can't say I blame him. The guy is an absolute _mess_." So Jared had noticed Ian's change in appearance as well. Of course, you'd have to be blind not to.

For a long time, Jared and I just sat there, not saying anything, both of us with other, more pressing matters on our mind. Alone with Jared, I finally was able to fully grasp the events of the day. I felt my eyes prick as heat built up behind them, forming into tears, and streaming down my face. My sister was gone. As good as dead. I realized then how unlikely it was that I would ever see her again, and little sobs began to escape from my throat. Wanda was gone. She was gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. _Gone._

Jared reached over, and took my hand in his. I glanced up to see his tormented expression, and saw the tear tracks in his face, and I realized that he had been crying over Wanda's loss as well. Just then, Ian came and popped open the door in the driver's side. Jared and I quickly wiped away our tears, but Ian didn't notice. He just stared at the ground, at the sky, or at some far off distant object that only he could see.

"We should drive back you guys. We've been gone long enough. Besides, it's not like we could do any more raiding without…without…," Ian seemed unable to say Wanda's name, so he gave up and shoot a glance at us, as if he was wary of our reaction.

"But Ian…," Jared started to say, but I finished the sentence for him. "What about Wanderer?" I asked.

Ian took a deep breath, as if he was trying to keep himself from losing his mind, which I realized then he probably was. When he spoke, his voice was small, tight, and held and almost unbearable amount of pain. "If you think that I have not reviewed every strategy, insane plan, or any means of an idea that might be able to save her, well you are _wrong_." Ian's voice had kept growing higher with each word, with his voice about to break; he stopped himself, and started to speak again. "We just can't save her you guys. She's gone. The seekers have her. And we're never going to get her back. Now, don't go and judge me. No one will _ever _love her more than I do, but I can't make up some insane plan to go and save her that doesn't involve risking all of our lives. I wouldn't ask you two to die for her, and I know that _she_ wouldn't want that. So, I'm trying to respect that wish." Ian took another deep breath, and looked at me and Jared. I could tell that if Ian didn't truly care about what Wanda wanted, he wouldn't have paid any attention to that wish. Jared and I exchanged a quick glance of pain, knowing that Ian was right, and we would have to let Wanda go. There was just no way we could save her.

After several long minutes of silence, Jared finally spoke, "Okay Ian. As much as I hate to say it but, we can't save Wanderer and-" Ian flinched slightly at the name, so Jared stopped his sentence abruptly while we both observed Ian with concern.

Ian just shook his head. "Sorry. I'm just really a mess right now." Ian sighed. "We need to get home, and fast, before the seekers take anyone else. I'll head out first by taking the jeep, and make sure the coast is clear. You guys follow up behind after a few minutes. 'Kay?" Ian didn't wait for a response, and was just about to slam the door shut when I spoke up.

"Ian?" I said in a small voice. Ian froze and turned around to look at me with a puzzled expression, despite his empty eyes.

"Yes, Mel?" he said slowly.

"What happened to you and W-Wa-Wanderer after you to left this morning?" I seemed to be having trouble saying her name as well. Ian wasn't the only one who was so stricken with grief.

"Well," Ian began. "We're going to have to explain to everyone in the caves what happened, and to be honest, it's a story that I would like to retell as little as possible, so, do you think you two could wait till we get back home?" Ian looked at me and Jared with pleading eyes, filled with anguish and sorrow. Jared and I both nodded in unison.

Looking just the tiniest bit relieved, but not at all less mournful, Ian turned around and slammed the door closed. "See you guys back home then."

That was the last time I saw Ian. For three months.

**Author Note**

**Please review!**

**I apologize for the minor swear words. I just got carried away in the heat of the moment. **

**The HOST rulez all!!!!!!**


	5. chap 5

**Special thanks to all my reviewers: Sierra154845, howling-wolf628, emotionalpoemgirl, fiasco-freak , 4-eva-bookworm, jediahsokaroxx, oohapoo, sapphirenight12, 9ud9ir190ne6ad, jane pushman, Bob of the New York Times, nisha, Rachelle44, JustFYI, SillyPizza, PurpleChameleon, Kitty-chan, RolliePollie, I'm-a-Sweet-Angel-Baby, Annie Tibrillo, MollyLoveLee, suzanniee, Ginny Styer, Ivoryclaw, BloodredEmeralds, Sofs, olf, & winky23. U guys ROCK MY SOCKS!!! Sorry is I left anyone out or if I misspelled anyone's name. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Host. I apologize in advance for any spelling/grammatical errors. **

**Wanda's POV**

I stepped into my new apartment. It was empty, its walls bare, the rooms lifeless. There was no homey feeling about it. But, of course, how could it feel like home, when my real one was hundreds of miles away, out in the middle of a desert.

I had received a new body. I wasn't thrilled. After years of inhabiting Pet's body I had finally gotten used to her small and physically weak form. I was starting to like my long golden hair, and I had grown accustom to seeing a round, shining face full of freckles every time I looked into a mirror. But of course, all of that had changed since I was inserted into my new body.

I remember everything crystal clear. I had been captured by the seekers. They had taken me back to their headquarters as I knew they would, although I was not conscious for much of the time. They had immediately extracted me, according to the kind healer who had explained everything to me when I had woken up. Golden Shadows, yes, that was her name. According to her, there had been a great debate - well, not exactly a _debate_, more like a general questioning in which everyone shared their honest opinion - over whether or not I should be shipped off-planet. Of course this would seem like the obvious choice to most of the souls who had taken part in the decision. They would want to get me away from the bad influences.

With a pang of agony that shot straight into my new, and already broken heart, I vaguely remember having this conversation out in the fields with Ian, so many years ago. It was the same time he had asked me if Melanie was still alive inside of me. I tried to force a smile to my face as I walked across the main living room, into the kitchen, and sat down at one of the counter barstools, but it turned out more like a grimace.

Several of the more influential seekers insisted on me staying for just a few more days, so they could make gentle inquiries about what I was doing out in the desert with a band of_ humans_. They had taken me out of Pet's body, and inserted me into a new one. I was quite surprised when I woke up, and not at all pleased, but I did my best to hid my negative emotions.

I efficiently lied my way through the entire questioning session with the seekers and the healers. I babbled on about how I was captured by the humans, and threatened to be tortured, unless I did as they were told. I made up some ridiculous story about how they had forced me to do their bidding, stealing supplies and what not. I had pretended that I didn't call for help because I didn't want to place any other soul in immediate danger. To conclude my fake story, I assured the kind souls that I had not told the humans how to properly extract a soul from a human body. I was crying the whole time, and I suspect that this helped convince the seekers, not that they would have needed extra convincing.

They kindly assured me that everything would be alright. All of the seekers thanked me for my cooperation and gave my their kind sympathy, respect, and sorrow, for having to deal with a situation as difficult and frightening as that. They then left me alone to recuperate after my unpleasant adventure. Golden Shadows stayed with me the entire rest of the day, respecting my personal space and leaving me alone to think, but she also constantly offered if she could do anything for me. I replied no thank you. I did, however, ask at one point if I could be reinserted back into Pet's body. I explained how very uncomfortable and unusual it was for me in this new body. Golden Shadows told me "no" in an apologetic manner. She said that the body had already been disposed of.

I sat there stunned, but I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised. It was to be expected. However, I was barely able to process the information as the healer told me that they planned to ship me off planet first thing tomorrow morning. She asked me what planet I would like to go to.

It took all of my self control to keep from screaming. _Off planet!?_ There was no way they were going to get me off of Earth that easily.

So instead of screaming my head off, I politely requested if I could stay on this lovely planet. The healer looked hesitant but then agreed, after much reassurance from me, that I would be perfectly fine.

Ha. If _only _that were true.

I had given a fake name to the seekers and healers, telling them that Wanderer and the seeker in black were killed by the humans, and I was someone else that they had captured. I told them my name was Einalem. Strange name I know, but the seekers bought it. What they didn't figure out was that _Einalem _was _Melanie_ spelled backwards. Not very creative but it made me happy. I was really missing Mel and Ian at the moment. The name gave me the teeniest bit of comfort.

They allowed me the rest of the day to myself, with Golden Shadows sill asking if I needed anything. They asked me if I needed a comforter. I quickly replied "no", shuddering to myself about how wrong it had all gone the _last_ time I had a comforter.

I woke up early the next morning, to find Golden Shadows waiting for me, telling me that the seekers had arranged a hovercraft for me. I was soon zipped away from the small little town surrounded by comforting deserts, away into a world that I did not know. As it turns out, they took me to California. Of all places! I had never been there and neither had Melanie, so I had no experience to draw on. We never went raiding that far out into the West anyways. But, the kind seekers accompanying me assured me that I would love it.

How could I love it, when I left my heart behind in a cave somewhere in the deserts?

In the hovercraft ride to the sunny West Coast, I realized that I could never go home. I would never see Ian again. It took all of my self control not to start bawling my eyes out. I had restrained from thinking of such things back at the headquarters, but I couldn't keep my agonizing thoughts at bay much longer. I could already feel heat building up behind my eyes and little pricks where tears were threatening to form.

An hour later, I could feel the hovercraft start to descend. I glanced out the window to find myself staring at a beautiful orange/gold bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge. My mind immediately made the connection. San Francisco. My new home was San Francisco.

After my accompanying seekers and I walked off the hovercraft (once it had landed of course), they had lead me even further into the bustling city. I'm sure I would have loved taking in the sights, sounds, and smells any other time, but today just wasn't one of my good days, you know? I allowed myself to be navigated through the throng of people in the Golden Gate Park area (this is where the hovercraft had dropped us off) to the residential district of San Francisco.

The seekers had split up, kindly saying their goodbyes and wishing me the best of luck in my new life. Soon there was just me, and a young male seeker, who's body looked no older than nineteen. He had bristly black hair, much like Wes', I remembered, and I had difficulty preventing myself from crying again.

The seeker, David, he called himself, lead me to my new apartment building, gave me a room number with a room key, and more or less told me to have a nice life. David said that he'd drop by every now and then to see how I was getting along, and I assured him that was fine. David and I had shared our goodbyes, and I continued up the stairway to my new home.

Which leads me to where I am now. Now that I was alone, I allowed my tears to freely fall. Glancing up from the countertop, I saw a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate bridge itself. For some stupid reason, this made me cry even harder. I then allowed myself to curl of on the couch and sob my heart and soul out, as the sun sank lower into the brilliant waters of the Pacific Ocean, illuminating the bridge and casting a golden light on the rest of the city.

**Early the next morning.**

After my sobbing session - which dragged on for the rest of the day and most of the following night - I sat up from where I lay curled up on the couch. I had not moved from that spot. I had sat there the entire day and night, wallowing in my self-pity.

I had known that I couldn't go home. Surely the seekers would be watching me, just in case the humans came to get me, or if I felt the need to go back. I knew the seekers would not find my human family, so I was able to take reassurance in that. But still, I could not go back. Not ever. I would never see Ian again. This was the main reason I had spent most of the night crying my eyes out.

I had finally pulled myself together and sat up. I knew I was not done crying, but I was finished for a little while. I decided to take advantage of this momentary lapse of tears by getting cleaned up.

I stumbled to the bathroom and turned the shower water on. I took a shower in the dark, not bothering to turn the lights on. After my shower, I felt a little better, a little more calm. I wiped away the steam from the mirror and got a good look at my new face for the first time.

My body was pretty. I seemed to have that good luck when inhabiting a new host. Even on planets other than Earth, my hosts had always been more than average looking. My host must have been in her early twenties. She had long, silky black hair. It was so black that it even had a little bluish tint to it. My eyes were a beautiful sea green. And my skin was a little pale, like Ian's.

I could feel new tears forming up. Uh oh. Not _again_. But before I could willingly release them, I heard a knock at the door. Huh. Who could that be? Maybe It was just one of my new neighbors stopping by to say hello. Or it could be David, dropping by to check up on me?

I quickly composed myself and hurried to the door. Wrenching it open in a very unsoul -like manner, I was preparing myself to act as happy and pleasant and soul-like as possible. When I saw who it was however, I stopped dead in my tracks. How could it be?

"Hello there, _Wanderer_," the person said.

It was Fords Deep Waters.

**AN: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! I swear, if you don't review... *slaps butt of an invisible gun (much like Jeb does)*. Haha, just kidding. But seriously... **_**reveiw.**_** Please?**

**I **_**promise**_** I'll update more often. Next chapter will be longer. Don't hesitate to send me harassing PM's telling me to update. I could use the encouragement. Special thanks to **_**howling-wolf628 **_**for sending me a gentle reminder to update. **

**As always, I'm up for suggestions. Tell me what you want to happen or if there's anything I need to clear up. **


	6. chap 6

**AUTHOR NOTE - IMPORTANT - MUST READ**

**Hi! This is Wavetail signing in, and I'm here to deliver some _very_ important notifications on my Host story, _Lost and Found_.**

**God, I sound like a weird television reporter. Let's start over:**

**I would like to warn all of my reader of two things in advance: I have an extremely overactive imagination, and I _do_ know where I'm going with this story. **

**Due to those two things, I just want my fantabulous readers to be aware that I'm going to make some pretty dramatic things happen in future chapters. Here are some examples:**

**1. There will be a ton of new characters.**

**2. I'm going to mess with some character personalities, making them turn into people they didn't seem like at all in The Host. **

**3. There will be a few character deaths that you'll probably hate me for. **

**These are just a few of the things I'm gonna do. So this is a warning to all of my readers: **

**If you are a person who doesn't like it when a fanfiction writer screws with the whole plot of their most favorite story ever, stop reading. I enjoy helpful criticism, but not hate mail, so don't try to kill me if you absolutely hate future chapters.**

**For those of you brave enough to continue: read on. Enjoy. I love you guys (but not in a creepy way).**

**-Wavetail**


	7. chap 7

**Thanks to all of my reviewers: Annie Tibrillo, SillyPizza, fiasco-freak, kitty-flower, Purple Chameleon, howling-wolf628, Sierra154845, Narcissa-Weasly, ladaane, emotionalpoemgirl, stephgirl123, oohapoo, weird-is-me, & paper-crane-master. You make my day with your reviews. Sorry if I missed anyone.**

**I WAS ABLE TO READ THE NEW BONUS CHAPTER OF HOST!!!! It was **_**awesome. **_**Basically, the extra chapter was Melanie's POV from when she first woke up and realized that Wanda was gone. You guys need to read it. I almost cried. Of course, I'm a big crybaby in general...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Host. *curls up into a ball and sobs* (See? I told you I was a crybaby.)**

**Ian's POV**

I can't believe that Mel and Jared actually fell for it.

All that stuff I said about we can't rescue Wanda, she wouldn't want this, it's for our own good, blah blah blah... well, that was complete and total _crap_.

I mean, I _know_ that it's not Melanie's and Jared's place to die for her, and I know that Wanda would _not_ want me to be risking my existence this way, but c'mon, how could I _not_ go after her. Wanderer was the soul point of my existence. Without her, I was nothing. Nuh-thing.

But Melanie and Jared had each other. They were happy. There was no need to destroy both their lives if one of them was hurt or captured trying to save Wanda. That already happened once, and I didn't ever want it to happen to anyone I knew again. Which was why I had lied to Jared and Melanie, and had convinced them to go back home.

So now I'm out searching for Wanderer.

I don't really know what I expected to find. How was I supposed to find Wanda? Where was I to start? I was putting all of my heart into praying that they hadn't shipped her off-planet. She once told me that would be the most likely solution if such a thing were ever to occur. But even if she was still on Earth, I wouldn't know where to look first, or what I would find. All in all, the best that I could hope for were two things: **A**. Wanderer was still on this planet & **B**. That I wouldn't end up finding her dead body instead of her shimmering, glittering soul. That would not bode well for my mental state of being.

I know that souls are generally nonviolent. Wanda told me that there was no capital punishment for her species, but I wasn't too sure. Wanderer practically betrayed her whole race, just for us humans. I didn't know if the souls would still spare her or not. Lacey's previous soul companion, the seeker in black, was living proof that all souls weren't the angelic little creatures that Wanderer was. Even so, the seeker's attitude probably had something to do with Lacey's annoying conscious that was stuck up in her head for multiple years.

Figuring that sitting around in this barren little town where Wanda was captured wouldn't get me anywhere, I decided to at least hit the road, drive for a few hours, and clear my mind so I could hopefully think straight.

While driving, I thought back on this day's horrid events. Wanderer was caught. The whole experience was mind-numbing.

Every second felt like I was dying a very slow and very painful death. Everything around me didn't seem real, for it was all covered in a thick haze, probably due to dehydration or over exhaustion. It all seemed like a dream. More like my worst nightmare.

Every breath I took was a struggle. It was like someone had tied an iron rope around my chest, trying to stop it from rising and falling. I fought against the rope, but without success. I suffocated in my own sorrow and horror.

Almost a day's drive later, I couldn't take it anymore. Every time I replayed the events in my head, my hands on the driving wheel started to shake from blinding agony and anger, making driving impossible. I took the nearest exit, into the downtown area of a city I've never been to before, pulled up beside the curb, and parked the car.

I was so distressed that I had to force myself to think. _Okay,_ I thought to myself. Breathe, relax. I just need a plan. That's all I need. A plan to follow. That will make things easier, once I had a driving motive.

I sat there in the driver's seat, coming up with no logical plan for me to follow. Oh... I had _ideas_ alright, but they weren't possible to carry out. Or else you would have to be insane to agree to try one of them. I wasn't really sure whether I was crazy or sane at the moment, but I was making an effort to keep my head screwed on straight. That's gotta count for something.

Hours later of sitting in that car, trying hard not to lose all control of my rational thought - 'cause _believe_ me, the last thing I wanted to do was be rational - something finally occurred to me. Yes, that was it. I had a plan. Not a very good plan; not sure it was going to get me anywhere (it probably wasn't), but a plan nonetheless.

Turning the keys to start the car, I heard the engine rumble to life. Feeling slightly calmer and more focused, I directed the vehicle back onto the highway.

It was midday on the following day of Wanda's capture. A whole evening, night, and morning had passed without me turning fanatical. I must have more self control than I thought. Never really thought I'd hold out this long.

_Focus,_ I told myself. Right. I needed to focus. I was trying to figure out where I was. I glanced over at a few signs on the side of the highway to give me a sense of location. On sign indicated that I was close to Las Vegas. Uh oh. Wrong state entirely. Only one state over from where I wanted to be, but still the wrong state.

I was able to get the car turned around, and was headed back to the right state. California.

I was going to visit some people, some people that were still human. I knew they could help me. I really hoped that they hadn't moved again. The last time I went to see them - I was taking Wanderer with me to introduce her to them - I had learned that they had moved houses. Again. Ug. Why couldn't they just stay in one spot? They're so good at keeping their true identities from the souls. No creature on Earth that didn't know them properly, would ever suspect them of being any other species than the kind-hearted aliens.

I snorted. Hah. Kind-hearted aliens were probably the farthest thing from accurately describing the rest of my siblings that a person could ever get.

Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yup. Kyle's not my only sibling. Oh no. There are actually ten O'Shea children. Now _that's _a living nightmare. No wonder our parents were never around when we were growing up. They were always off on these really long "business" trips. Well, you can't exactly blame them. I'm just grateful that they didn't disown us or chuck us all in an orphanage.

First there's Amy, she's twenty-six, so she's the oldest. Then comes James, who's twenty-five. Then Kyle (twenty-four), me (twenty three), and Evangeline (twenty two). The younger five of the O'Shea kids are Erik (nineteen), Jake and Kate (fifteen - yes, they _are_ twins), David (thirteen), and lastly Emily (eleven).

And here's a secret I probably shouldn't share about me and my freaky siblings:

We knew the invasion was coming all along. When we were younger, we built this planetarium in our living room. We charted all of the stars and planets and created our very own telescopes & satellites that were ten times more efficient than anything places like NASA had ever built. We were able to pick up on strange radiation waves coming from the soul's space-carriers. A the time, we didn't know who the souls were or what they wanted. We found out exactly eight months later.

Back when humans dominated the planet, us O'Shea kids were considered, well... _special._ Different. Crazy. Insane. Of our rockers. You get the idea.

We were considered nothing short of geniuses. Even Kyle can has a few brains when he actually uses them. We were always socially isolated from the rest of society. And we always had this big house out on the outskirts of the city we lived in, with no neighbors for a ten mile radius. That was for the best, due to the fact that we were always blowing up various objects. God forbid someone heard us and called the police.

There's a reason that the rest of my family is living the high life in a regular _house_ while Kyle and I were out living in caves with a bunch of other wild humans. A few months after the invasion - we were all fine because we knew the aliens were coming - we were able to locate a few other humans. Wild Humans. These people were living out in barren isolated waste-lands, just like Jeb and the rest of them were doing. That's when Amy took pity on them all and invited them to come live with us. Oh joy. The rest of us were happy, but we weren't too thrilled about sharing the already cramped house - even though it was a mansion - with twenty other people. We had a hard enough time trying to keep from ticking each other off as it was; crowded living spaces were not going to help resolve that problem.

And then, over the next few months, we started to find _more_ humans. We aren't the kind of people to take in only a few people and leave everyone else off to fend for themselves. No. We take in _every _human we find. It's kind of like our motto.

But then, one night, Amy and Kyle had this huge row. Kyle kept saying that we had to draw the line somewhere. We were having trouble feeding everyone, and it was hard enough to have a house filled with seventy-two people, and we also couldn't hide these people forever. Something was going to tip off the seekers sooner or later. Then Amy started yelling about how she didn't care what the heck Kyle thought, that she would help every last human on that planet even if she got captured by the souls trying. Of course, that didn't sit well with Kyle. Later that night, he packed up his stuff and left. When we woke up, everything in his room was gone. And so was Kyle.

Amy then started to feel really terrible about the whole thing, but she didn't show it. Instead she acted like she couldn't have cared less. That's when I took off after Kyle. I was going to try to convince him to come back home, so he and Amy could smooth things out. The _last_ thing we needed was for everyone to start throwing a big hissy fit and choosing sides over who was right and who was wrong. That happened once about five years previously, and it did _not_ end well.

My plant to stop Kyle didn't work. I was finally able to catch up to him, but he didn't want to come home. He said he was sick of Amy and her rules, and wasn't coming home anytime soon. He wasn't going to be persuaded easily. I agreed to travel with him for a while, but only so I could try to sway him on the way. But that's when we ran into trouble.

Kyle didn't bring any contacts. My siblings and I had developed a special type of contact lenses a few months ago that gave us eyes identical to the souls if you looked at them in direct light. They took forever to make. We had put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into those things, making them for situations exactly like this. And Kyle forgot to bring some with him!! I was so pissed at him when I found out. I hadn't bothered to take any 'cause I figured that I'd had convinced him to come back by this point. And even if I hadn't, I thought that Kyle would have packed some extras. I couldn't have been more wrong.

So then we started pathetically sneaking around, acting like criminals, because we couldn't pretend to be normal souls unless we at least _looked like them!_ Yeah... I was still fuming over the whole Kyle forgetting-the-contacts fiasco.

I could get into the whole boring story of how we ran into Jeb and his gang of wild people, but that's another chapter of my life entirely. Let's just say that they had no idea what kind of psychos Kyle and I really were.

Anyway, back to the hell-like world of the present.

I hadn't seen the rest of my brothers and sisters in months. The last time I saw them was when I was taking Wanderer out to meet them. She was a little shocked when I finally had the guts to tell her that, including Kyle, I had nine other brothers and sisters. But I was surprised to see how quickly she recovered from the news, and she was soon ecstatic to meet them. On a quick raid that was just the two of us, I drove us out to the sunny West coast. But we soon ran into trouble, for I discovered that they had relocated. It took us a few days to finally track down my family, but we finally found them in a giant mansion up in Carmel, with views that overlooked the brilliant Pacific Ocean and the nearby lush green Carmel Valley. My sisters had a soft spot for ocean views. Every house that we ever lived in had one.

When we showed up at the grand oak doors, Wanda suddenly became uneasy. She was concerned that they wouldn't like her, that they wouldn't accept her. I calmly assured her that they would love her. The rest of my siblings weren't quite as narrow-minded or shallow as Kyle could be. With her hands trembling slightly, she nervously agreed to still see them.

I was not disappointed. After Evangeline, my favorite sister, answered the door, and the rest of the O'Shea kids got over the surprise of seeing me again, I pulled Wanda out from where she was hiding behind me, and introduced her to them.

They too, were a little stunned, when I told them that my girlfriend was one of the aliens that took over Earth. You should have seen their faces. I think Wanda would have found it funny if her whole face wasn't chalk white from fear.

Just then, Emily started jumping up and down, squealing like a little girl (well, she _was_ a little girl, but you get my point). She bounded up and threw her arms around Wanda's waist, giving her a big hug. Then she started gushing about how "It's so nice to meet you,", and "Welcome to our house,", and "How did you meet my brother?", and "Where are you from?", and "Do you find my brother as annoying as I do?", and "Did he come clean and tell you right away that he was a complete_ freak_ with ten other siblings -".

That's when I clamped my hand over her mouth. Wanda started cracking up.

It was pretty much fine from that point on. All of my siblings liked her. Wait. That was an understatement. My sisters _adored_ her and the rest of my brothers thought that she was really neat, although I think they liked her more that they let on. I was immensely relieved. I didn't want to repeat the whole Kyle-hating-Wanderer-so-much-that-he-wanted-to-drown-her thing. All of my problems seem to have been circulating around Kyle lately. I tell you, that man is a real pain in the butt sometimes.

But for once, Kyle isn't the source of all my issues at the moment. It was no one's fault that Wanderer was gone. Except mine. I should have paid more attention. I should have told her not to go. All the things I should have done. It was my fault. My fault...

I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts, I didn't realize how far I had traveled. I was in Carmel. And, sure enough, I saw a huge house looming up in the distance. It was nestled in a crevice between two hills, providing protection against the wind, but still a perfect ocean view.

When I pulled up into the driveway, I heard raised voices and running footsteps, as I hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind me.

Evangeline was the first one to show up by my side. She threw her arms around me and I pulled her in for a tight hug. We hung on a little longer than necessary. Out of all my family members, I loved Evangeline the most. She was always calm with an even temper. When she got mad, she got mad for a good reason, not over something stupid. She was the voice of reason in a time of crisis, when everyone else was losing their heads. That's mainly why I came back home. I really wanted to see Ange; to hear her voice again. To listen to her calmly help me work my way through this mess.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who was missing my favorite sibling because Ange then looked up and whispered to me, "I missed you so much."

"Missed you too, Ange," I murmured.

But, just like that, Ange leaped back away from me, as if I was carrying the Black Plague. She frowned as she took in my whole appearance. She looked shocked by what she took in, then horrified. I was going to ask what was wrong, but then I realized what I must have looked like, what my voice must have sounded like.

I glanced behind her to find Amy, James, Erik, Jake, Kate, David, and Emily, standing there with the same horrified expressions on their faces.

At last, Erik spoke up, "Ian... what the _hell _happened?"

**Author note: Sorry it took me a while to update. We are currently taking our states standardized tests, so I couldn't update over the weekend 'cause I was studying for those. And then swim team started, so I can't write that much at night. **

**Anyway, do you like it? Please review. Review. Please. PLEASE!! Also, please give me suggestions. I'm always looking for new things to incorporate into the story. Whose POV (point of view) do you want next chapter to be on? Here are the one's I'm considering: Jamie, Melanie, Ian, or Wanda. Let me know. **

**Have an awesome... night, day, morning, or whatever time of day you're reading this. Adios amigos!**

**-Wavetail**


	8. chap 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Host. **

**Melanie's POV **

The drive back to the caves was long and silent. Jared and I didn't say a word to each other about... well... The Incident. Although, The-Horrible-Mind-Blowing-Tragedy-That-I'll-Never-Recover-From is probably a more accurate description.

Everything was a blur. I hardly noticed when we pulled up into the shadowy crevice besides the main entrance to our caves. Jared and I got out and we both took several boxes of food, before making our way to the secret concealed entrance.

Somehow, we failed to notice that Ian's car wasn't there.

No one was there to greet us as we felt our way blindly through the twisting tunnels. I was surprised that Jamie wasn't at least there. But I didn't ponder on it too long. It's hard to wonder about things as meaningless as manners when you just lost your sister.

After what felt like forever, we felt our way back to the storage room. Dumping off our supplies in the nearly-empty corridor, we decided to go find everyone and check on them before we finished unloading.

Walking numbly down the pitch black tunnel, I worked up the nerve to ask, "What should we say? What should we tell them?"

Jared hesitated, "I'm not sure. I think we should be honest though. Tell them everything. It won't do anyone any good if we hold back information."

I wordlessly agreed, but Jared's words made me nervous. Everyone was going to flip out when they heard this - that was a given. What would they say? What would their expressions be like? How would Jeb react? What about Jamie? Oh, _god..._Jamie. This was going to kill him.

We slowly made our way to the mess hall-slash-kitchen. I could hear voices as we grew closer with every step. We shortened our steps. To be honest, we were just stalling for time, now. Neither one of us wanted to be the first to break the news that Wanderer was gone. Hell was sure to follow.

Rounding the corner, I took in what I saw. Everyone seemed relaxed. There was a clam tone in the air. No one was fighting, arguing, or outwardly displaying any negative emotion. No more than the usual at least. Jeb was scolding people as if they were children, telling them that the "day's a-wasting" and to get back to work. Jamie was getting on someone's nerves, as usual. People were cooking and conversing politely. I took notice of a few extra people in the room. Ever since we had found those other groups of humans, we've had other people constantly drop in. Everyone seemed impressed at Jeb's sanctuary. They all wanted to see the marvelous caves for themselves.

I felt my already shattered heart give a painful little lurch, for I knew that all of the content air would soon break, replaced by something most unpleasant.

Jeb was the first to notice us.

"Welcome back," he boomed at up in his strong voice. The whole room fell silent. Then came the friendly chorus of pleasant greetings, followed by many _Welcome home_'s.

Jamie bounded forward like he was five instead of fifteen, and gave me a big hug. "Welcome home," he murmured to me and Jared in sync with everyone else.

I could tell Jared couldn't take it anymore. Only I could feel his hands shaking slightly at the news we inevitably had to bring up soon. He then turned his head and spoke directly to Jeb, as if he were the only person in the room, instead of having an audience of dozens.

"Something happened," Jared's voice rang around the mess hall. The words in his voice were full of meaning.

The room slowly grew quiet. You could feel the suffocating tension in the air.

I could see Jeb quickly pulling on his poker face before he asked, "Well why don't you save us the Alfred Hitchcock suspense and tell us what exactly _did_ happen."

Jared and I met his question with complete and utter silence. Neither of us wanted to say it. The only noise that you could hear was Isaiah who quietly asked his mother, "Who's Alfred Hitchcock?"

Lucinda quickly silenced him.

Jared and I seemed to be having this mini showdown with Jeb. We tried not to break under his icy gaze. But, as everyone knows, Jeb always gets his way. But Jared and I still weren't caving in.

"Just tell just what happened." Someone said, I couldn't see who it was. However, the person didn't exactly phrase his question that way, if you know what I mean.

Another person snorted. "Nice language."

Jared was the one with the guts to do it in the end. "It seems that Wanderer, is no longer... with... us." He struggled to get the last two words out of his mouth, with his voice shaking slightly.

No one spoke. No one moved. No one breathed. Even Jeb couldn't hold his poker face in place.

_"What?"_ Jeb's voice shook from the rage, sadness, and confusion all piled into that one word.

"Wanderer... is not with us anymore?" I spoke, but I made is sound more like a question that a statement.

"What in hell's name is _that _supposed to mean?" And enraged Lily screeched as she leapt up from where she was sitting, and strode across the room so she was face to face with me and Jared.

We both flinched. I should have know how hard Lily would take this.

After Wanderer had been placed into her new body, she and Lily had grow to be even closer friends. Lily would hardly talk to anyone except Ian and Wanderer. However, Wanderer was the only one who could still bring a smile to Lily's face, no matter how hard the rest of us tried. Lily was still so broken from loosing Wes. She didn't laugh or play soccer anymore. She hardly conversed with anyone. The only people she really talked to anymore were Wanda and Ian. But, the only one she truly let inside was Wanderer. Sometimes, I found myself growing jealous of the bond that Wanderer now shared with Lily. I was used to being the only real friend in her life. Her best friend. Her sister. But right now, jealous of Lily was the last thing I was.

"I'm sorry Lily," I whispered in a broken tone.

Lily's eyes flashed dangerously. Man if looks could kill...

Jared took a little step forward, so he was mostly blocking me with his body. I was a little shocked by his movement, but I understood the intentions. I doubted that Lily would make any hostile move toward me or Jared. But then again, she did look _really_ pissed...

Ever since Lily had yelled at us, the room had erupted in to shocked murmurs. Jeb tried to pull his poker face back on as we heard shaken whispers echo around the room.

"I don't believe it."

"How could this have happened?"

"What should we do?"

"Should we pack up?"

"No, it's too early to tell."

"We should be prepared, just in case."

"I still don't understand. Did Wanda _die_?"

I flinched when I heard that one. The conversation kept on rolling.

"How could she have died? Who would have killed her?"

"No soul would harm her."

"As if anyone could hurt that sweet little thing."

But then someone said something that made my blood run cold.

"Oh _please_. It's fairly obvious what happened. She's not dead, idiots. She's turned us all in. Simple as that. We should have gotten rid of her ages ago."

I whipped around to find myself staring at none other than my cousin, Sharon.

I walked up to her. I then hissed at her in a voice so filled with fury, so bitter with hatred, I barely recognized it as mine. "I dare you to say that one more time - to my face."

I must have looked like Death himself, because Sharon unconsciously took a step back. She, along with everyone else, looked slightly shocked by the amount of acid I placed in my tone.

I ignored it, and continued to speak. "We'd all be _dead_ if it weren't for her. For years she had done nothing - _nothing_ - but try and protect us. And what have we offered her? Well, there's me, practically forcing her out here, in to this desolate wasteland. There's also me harshly shoving memories on her, thought after thought. Like blows. Except only to the mind.

"And then there's a bunch of others, who consistently tried to murder her _over_ and _over_ again. She still tried to help us, in spite of all that. And then, a bunch of you decide to start slicing bodies to slivers, trying to extract the souls."

My voice was now thickly coated with sarcasm. "Oh, it was _essential_ not to harm the bodies. Not one little bit. But not one of us cared if we slashed the souls into a million pieces, if it saved the human body. She happened to notice that when she walked in that hospital and found blood, both ours and theirs, _smeared everywhere._"

I was really getting worked up now. "She then shut me out. How easy it would have been for her, to just leave it at that. She had erased me. She had the solitude she craved. But then, she went out of her way to _ bring me back_ when I hardly deserved to live at all, with the way I had treated her. With the way _we_ had treated her. And then, she stole essential medicine for us, despite us humans murdering her family members, without a care in the world. For who would ever guess, that a measly _parasite_ could have feelings."

"But she didn't stop there. She forgave us. Too soon in my opinion. None of us would have forgiven that easily if we were in her position. She easily gave us food and clothes and common necessities that we had worked so hard to make every day here. She _also_ showed us how to safely take a soul out of a human body, accepting the risks that we might not always properly attend to the soul that we had extracted. She did it to save me. Me, when I had done nothing for her."

"A few months ago, it would have been so easy. Wanderer heard a rumor about a suspicion of humans in the area. She could have easily turned us in, then and there. Seeing as what we have done to her, she had every right to. But she didn't. She came back and told us to be careful. She saved our butts, _again!_ And, do you know _why_ she's no longer with us, Sharon? Because she was trying to keep us safe. The seekers had figured it out. They had figured out that Wanderer was a traitor to her own species. But instead of coming back to us, she lead them away. They chased her through the city, until they caught her."

"The seekers have her , Sharon. She'll never tell them where we are. She'll never even hint that we exist. We're never going to see her again, because I know that they'll ship her _far_ away. But out of every single person in this room, _I'm_ the one who spent a year locked inside her head._ I_ know her far better than you ever will. So, you can stand there and call me a liar, make up whatever misleading treachery you want about my sister, but you should know, Sharon, that it will be the last thing you ever do."

The rest of the room was dead silent. Sharon stood there, a shocked expression on her face, full of stunned disbelief, that I would ever insult her. But, before anyone recovered enough to say anything, I turned on my heels and walked right out of the mess hall, leaving everything behind.

**Jared's POV**

I'm such an idiot. Mel too. First class airheads. You won't find anyone more oblivious than the two of us.

Ian never came back. Mel and I finally figured out that he was never _going_ to come back. We should have known. _I_ should have known. I've been in the same position before that Ian is in now. I never would have given up on Melanie, if I didn't have Jamie to look after. I don't know why I couldn't see through his lies.

Mel's beating herself up too. After her... outburst... in the mess hall, we finished unloading. I'm the one who noticed there was only two out of the three cars that were supposed to be there. Ian's car was gone.

Mel was occupied over fuming about Sharon, and - of course - grieving for Wanderer. I admit, I too was shocked at the things she said in the mess hall. After Wanda was taken out of my Melanie, Mel tried to explain to me how special she was to her, and that she would do whatever it took to keep anything from happening to her. I tried to understand the bond that the two of them shared, but I don't think I truly comprehended the magnitude of it.

And then - just a few hours ago, Melanie stood there, screaming those things at Sharon. She had never said anything like that, to me or to anyone else. I understand better now. Not that that helps. The only thing that Mel's outburst helped me see was that Melanie was suffering a million times more on the inside than I originally thought.

I was the first to notice. When I went back and reported that Ina was gone, everyone got in a tizzy. Now, we're all freaking out. We're wondering if we have to roll tonight. All of us are packing up, just in case.

I know why Ian did it. I know why he lied. He was just trying to protect us. But that doesn't keep me from begin really ticked off at him.

The only thing that reassures e now is Ian's extreme caution. So extreme, it's annoying. He's always too careful. If he maintains that quality, despite his sorrow, he shouldn't get caught.

At least I hope not.

**Wanderer's POV**

_I could feel new tears forming up. Uh oh. Not __again__. But before I could willingly release them, I heard a knock at the door. Huh. Who could that be? Maybe It was just one of my new neighbors stopping by to say hello. Or it could be David, dropping by to check up on me?_

_I quickly composed myself and hurried to the door. Wrenching it open in a very unsoul -like manner, I was preparing myself to act as happy and pleasant and soul-like as possible. When I saw who it was however, I stopped dead in my tracks. How could it be?_

_"Hello there, _Wanderer_," the person said._

_It was Fords Deep Waters._

I stood there, stunned. I could feel my mouth hanging open. I quickly clamped it shut and tried to regain a calm composure.

Fords Deep Waters. How could that _possibly _be?

I was so shocked that I had taken a few steps back. I was starting at the other soul like an idiot.

Fords Deep Waters invited himself in, without any word of welcome from me, and closed the door softly behind him, resting against it.

"If this is a bad time, I can leave," the aged soul said softly. But even as he said this, he moved into the kitchen and sat down at the table, his silvery eyes piercing through me the whole time.

I still couldn't comprehend these events. Fords Deep Waters was my healer from when I was inserted into Melanie, and now he was here. What was going on?

I felt a spark of something deep inside of me. It was strange. And uncomfortable. I usually never felt emotions like this. The last time I had a feeling like this was when I was in Melanie's body. With a sickening realization, I found a word for the fiery hot feeling that was bubbling up inside of me. Anger.

I didn't really know why I was angry. Maybe I was getting over how I had lost my whole family. I had seen it and heard about this scenario of feelings millions of times before. I knew from experience that Melanie had undergone emotional roller coasters like this all of the time. You loose something. First you're shocked. Then you're sad. Then you feel the fury.

Turning my back toward the healer - if that's even what he is - I slammed the door shut. The loud sound of it banging against the wooden frame echoed through the quiet room. To my own great surprise, I turned around and snarled, "What can I do for you, _Fords Deep Waters_." I realized, that I was truly in a bad mood. I had lost my entire point of existence, shoved into a new body, and shipped like cargo to some place I was completely unfamiliar with in less than forty-eight hours. I was past feeling that sorrowful anguish. Right now, I was just plain _mad_. Fords Deep Water's presence wasn't helping either. It annoyed me at how easily he saw through my lies. He was probably planning on reporting me. Then the rest of my family really _would_ be in danger. That though dissolved any last token of patience or calmness in my mind, which was why I was standing over the other soul, with a death glint in my eyes.

The soul didn't seem affected at all by my sudden, and angry outburst. He just sat there., calmly staring at me. He knew he had me cornered. I could do nothing to protect myself or the rest of my brutish humans that I loved so much.

As quickly as the boiling rage had come, it had gone. I was now left feeling empty and exhausted. Without thinking, I slumped down in a chair next to the Healer, all of my energy gone. When I spoke it was in a broken voice, "What do you want from me?" I immediately hated how my voice sounded so weak and helpless, so pathetic...

But the man sitting across from me at the table didn't speak immediately. He probably wanted to wait for me to snap, spilling everything I knew. I snorted to myself_. Yeah, well, good luck with that theory,_ I imagined saying to him.

Finally he spoke. " I don't want anything from you, Wanderer."

I was taken aback by the sureness in his voice as he said my name. It made me uncomfortable, and it scared that he knew who I was. If he knew this, then what else did he know?

"Well, you must have wanted something, or else you wouldn't have bothered to find me."

"I want to talk to you, Wanderer."

"Well, then... start talking." I raised one of my eyebrows, as if daring him to say something that would tick me off. I wasn't really in control of my emotions or actions at the moment. I was sure that it wouldn't take much to push me over the edge in this fragile state of mind.

"I want you to know that I am your friend."

This shocked me. "Why? Why should you want to be my friend." My voice then grew hoarse with sorrow. "Why would someone like me, a traitor, even deserve a friend." There was no use concealing my identity now. He already knew.

**Special thanks to the following : ****Sierra154845, howling-wolf628, stephgirl123, oohapoo, PurpleChameleon, SillyPizza, Annie Tibrillo, emotionalpoemgirl, pet-15, Vampire-princess14899, tehkillerbunny, imma pirate argg., Rachelle44, Silent Shootting Stars, ShadowOfTheDay818, Twilightfanatic17, &WannaBeShephenieM. You guys write awesome reviews. Thanks a ton. You all get a muffin. :)**

**Thanks for reading. Please review. Sorry I had such a short excerpt from Wanderer. I was planning on making next chapter all about her - maybe some Ian too. **

**-Wavetail**


	9. chap 9

**Ian's POV**

"Ewww... that's gross, Jake."

"Take a chill pill, Em," Jake muttered from across the kitchen table.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Bro, your hair is _hot pink_. That is so not cool."

Jake sat up in his chair, leaned over the edge of the table and smirked. "Is it annoying you?"

"It's hideous! Guys aren't supposed to dye their hair hot pink. It should be against the law or something."

Jake snored.

"It's not entirely his fault, Emily," Kate said, bounding into the kitchen. James (also sitting at the extremely large kitchen table) looked over at her and did a double take.

"What in god's name did you _do_?" Erik said, coming around behind the counter tops to stand beside James.

Kate's hair, usually black, was now a vibrant blue. Electric blue.

"We dyed our hair," the twins said in unison.

"No shit, Sherlock," Amy muttered from where she was cooking behind the counter tops.

David laughed.

"Seriously, whachya do now?" Evangeline inquired sharply from where she was sitting on the counter. "Please don't tell me you blew up the bathroom sink again to get your hair to look like that."

"We've never blown up the bathroom sink, actually," Jake corrected. "We blew up the _kitchen_ sink. There's a major difference-"

"How many times have I told you not to dump your bad experiments down the drain?" Amy screeched, stalking around the counter tops, coming to stand beside Erik.

"Uh oh," Kate said. Then she punched her twin on the shoulder. "Dude, you made her mad."

"_I_ made her mad? This was _your_ idea-"

"I wasn't the idiot who suggested to test our potion on ourselves."

"You didn't seem too objective."

"Well _you_-"

And on it went.

All nine of us were crowded around in our kitchen. We tried to stay as away from the other humans as much as possible. We have discovered that our clash of personalities, weird habits, and violent tendencies to beat each other up can often... get on people's nerves.

"What were you trying to do this time?" James asked once Kate and Jake were done bickering.

"We were originally trying to make this edible paint that dyed your skin or changed your eye color for a few minutes," Jake said.

"And then we drank it to test it," Kate said, "But it changed our hair color instead. And so far it hasn't gone away. But we _did _figure out that the color changes every hour."

Just as Kate said that, we could see her electric blue hair slowly fading into a emerald green. Jake's was changing to a shade of lavender.

"Why do I get stuck with all the feminine colors?" Jake muttered to himself.

"Maybe it's a reflection of your hidden sexuality," David muttered.

"_Excuse_ me?" James snarled, shoving David out of his chair.

Emily and Erik howled with laughter. Kate looked amused.

David and Jake started a mini battle where they both tried to shove the other out of his chair. Emily was fussing over her appearance, Kate was laughing like a maniac, Erik was encouraging Jake and David to kill each other, James was watching from the sidelines and trying to steal food from Amy, Evangeline was trying to tune everyone out, and Amy was yelling at people to "Get the _hell_ out of my kitchen!"

This is your typical morning in the O'Shea household.

You should just be glad that Kyle wasn't here and that I was to depressed to say anything otherwise this would _really_ be hell.

I rolled my eyes as Jake and David came crashing over to my side of the room where I sat in an old tattered arm chair trying to read a book.

"Hey," I growled. "Watch it."

If I had felt any better, I would have seriously enjoyed the shocked looks on everyone's faces and how the room turned dead silent as I spoke.

David and Jake just stared me. As did everyone else.

Slightly annoyed I asked, "What?"

No response. Shocker.

Finally Kate leaned over to Emily and whispered loudly, "The zombie had spoken. What should we do?"

Emily erupted into giggles.

I made a face.

"Oh, come of it, Ian. You haven't spoke in days. And when you do, you - no offense - sound like crap. Or a zombie," Amy said.

"No offense taken, Amy," I muttered sarcastically.

Erik stood up and walked over to where I was sitting.

Standing in front of me he said, "This is serious, bro. You've gone out with _dozens_ of girls in high school-"

"Not helping, Erik," I snarled. I really was in a bad mood today.

Ignoring my snappy reply, Erik continued. "When you broke it off with _those_ girls - or they broke it off with you - you weren't all depressed like this. A lot of _those_ girls were nice, smart, funny, pretty, creative, witty, or whatever else you look for in a girl. But you never really minded when it ended. What _is _it about _this_ chick - an _alien_, I remind you - that's driven you up the wall? Please tell us. We are _very_ curious."

I looked at him.

Erik narrowed his eyes.

I rolled mine.

Amy gave a snort of disgust.

That's when I spoke in my 'zombie' voice.

"You've met her. You know what she's like."

James spoke up, "What does that have to do with it?"

I didn't answer.

All of my other siblings groaned in frustration.

"I give up," Kate cried. "_You_ guys try to decipher his every word. I'm going out."

"Out where?" Amy inquired with steel in her voice.

"Out. _Somewhere_," Kate shot back.

"Over the rainbow," Emily sang.

"Will you just shut _up_ already," David moaned.

Kate raced out of the kitchen with Amy screaming after her, "If I find out you're going out of the country again without or permission, I _swear _I will_ kill _you_, _Katherine Melissa O'Shea!"

Kate made no reply. Wise move.

"Well, not that this hasn't been _really _fun," James muttered sarcastically, "But I'm gonna go check and see how the other people are doing."

James left.

Emily, David, Erik, and Jake soon ran off to go play two-on-two soccer.

So now it was me, Amy, and Evangeline.

We all sat in silence for a long time. The only noise that could be heard was Amy rummaging around in the kitchen, and Evangeline fiddling with her radio. I, of course, did nothing.

I was actually brainstorming places that Wanda could still be in - that is - _if _she was still on Earth.

I couldn't let myself think of that possibility.

So. Places she could be? Nowhere near the desert. I was confident about that. I don't think they would take her out of the country. At least not yet. They wouldn't want to overwhelm her too much at first. Maybe in time, they would take her out of the U.S. I was nervous about that idea. Souls didn't use planes anymore. I wasn't sure how I could even get out of the country if I wanted to.

Wait a minute. What was I thinking? Kate's been out of the country before by soul transportation. Amy was just now yelling at her for it. I could ask her. But not yet. I was positive that Wanderer was still in this country. For now.

So. No deserts. Nowhere in the southern states. Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas were immediately out. Maybe they shipped her out to the East coast. That seemed like the most likely place. I would start there.

But first, I was forgetting the obvious.

My siblings had been able to pass as humans for the past seven years. Surely, they could help me poke around for information on Wanderer. I wondered if souls kept track of everyone like humans did. If they did, then somewhere there would be a file on Wanderer, stating her current whereabouts. No doubt the souls would have some people watching her closely, so her file would certainly be up to date.

But where to look for a file like this?

My siblings and I were good at lots of things. Blowing stuff up, breaking into places, picking locks, getting perfect scores on SAT's, athletics, and other stuff like that. We could all do that. We also all specialized in something different.

I tried to remember what each of my siblings could do.

Lets see. I'll start with Amy. She was great with food. She was the cook of the family. She could make something delicious out of anything you gave her. She not only specialized in food, but she specialized in things to eat. Things _not_ to eat as well.

Let's say you dropped Amy off in some barren wasteland. A jungle. Whatever. She would survive knowing what to eat and what not to eat. She could distinguish poisons things from edible things. She knew her plants. She knew what sort of stuff could make you throw up, what would give you hives, what would make you pass out, what would dehydrate you, what would kill you immediately, what would kill you slowly and other stuff like that. This was why we didn't get on Amy's bad side. You see, we all eat her food. If we made her mad, she could easily slip something into what we were eating and - _bam _- we would be sick for the next week.

Smiling slightly to myself, I concluded that Amy probably couldn't help me find Wanderer. Despite her evil skills.

Next person.

James. James was great with medicine. It was similar to what Amy could do with certain plants, except to a greater extent. James was like our 'Doc'. He could literally fix any medical problem. Without soul medicine.

No, no. I didn't think James could help me either.

Kyle. No, no. Kyle wouldn't be of use to me. He was hundreds of miles away. Besides, he specialized in mechanics. Cars, machines. Stuff like that. Maybe if I needed to build my own hovercraft, I would get Kyle. But not yet.

Next.

Me? The pathetic thing was I didn't do anything special. Nothing cool like the rest of my siblings. I was the smartest, I guess. Highest grades, test scores, and everything. I could solve puzzles and riddles. Lots of my other siblings could do that, but I was the best at it. Cracking codes. I didn't see how that would be very useful at the moment, either.

Evangeline. Evangeline could calm anyone down. I don't know how she didn't it. She was very persuasive. Can make anyone see her side of things. Evangeline can keep people from losing it completely.

I was definitely going to need her. For the sake my own personal sanity.

Erik... Erik was werid. Like me. Didn't have a really cool skill. Not yet at least. Erik was teh fastest out of all of us. And he was _great _and pissing someone off. That wouldn't be of use to me. Next sibling.

I _would _need Kate and Jake. Out of all the O'Shea children, those two cause the most trouble. Hands down. They're great with stealing stuff and breaking into places and picking locks and all other criminal skills. I didn't know how hard it would be to find Wanderer's file, or if it would be locked up or not. I didn't know how protective souls could get over personal information on each individual. Kate and Jake were also inventors. Hence the whole hair dying fiasco.

David was good with security. Cameras and gadgets like that. Might need his assistance.

And I would have to have Emily help me. Emily, the youngest, most positive O'Shea kid. Her specialty was disguises. She was great at changing looks, for better or worse. I might need to look a little different each time I want snooping around for government records that the souls had. If the souls even had a government.

But that still didn't mean I was in any way prepared to start searching for Wanderer. Unless... no. No. No. No. Forget it. I was _not_ going back... to... that... _that_ place.

But what if It was the only way to find _her_? To find Wanderer.

I groaned. I heard Amy and Evangeline jump.

"What?" Amy asked. I looked up at them. Their faces only betrayed curiosity. If I looked deeper into their expressions I could see... fear. They were slightly scared of me. Scared _for _me too. I was a stranger to them right now. In all of our years together, I have never lost it like this. I had never half-died before. They had never seen me behave like this, and I knew it scared them.

Ignoring their fear, I asked my question. "You two wouldn't happen to know... anyone who... specialized in government files. Or knew a lot about the souls. Enough to know where I might find a certain case of files on a certain... individual."

Amy stared at me. Evangeline almost cracked a smile. All the fear was gone now. This was more like the Ian that they knew. According to them, this was all one big puzzle that I had to solve. And they thought I could do it.

I wished I had that kind of confidence in myself. But I don't. I was scared out of my mind at the thoght that I wouldn't see Wanderer again.

Amy spoke first. She had abandoned her rummaging in the kitchen. I had caught her attention. "You mean aside from... you know... _Them_?"

"_Yes_," I muttered. "Aside from _Them_."

"Sorry, Ian," Evangeline murmured in a soft voice. "But I don't know where someone like that would exist. Aside from the... people we already know."

"Oh, Ian," Amy said. "You'll find her. Wanderer's smart. She would have found a way to get out of leaving Earth. She's still here. If you don't find her, then she'll come to you. Don't stress so much. It's bad for your health."

I rolled my eyes at Amy. I even cracked a smile for a millisecond. I knew I wouldn't be able to relax until I had Wanderer back in my arms. And I knew I was going to get teased like hell from the rest of my siblings for it. Oh well.

Evangeline gave a weak smile too. "The zombie is smiling."

I even gave a small smile again. You see, _this _is what I'm talking about. Evangeline can make anyone feel better. My entire soul felt like it was frozen over with ice. But when I talked to Evangeline, I felt a small section of it de-thaw.

"Hate to break it to you, bro," Amy started rambling in a matter-of-fact voice. "But I think that _They_ are the only people that can help you out. That is... if you want Wanderer's file enough to go talk to them. But to be honest, Ian, it's beyond me how you could love someone enough to go face _Them _again. If you _do _love her _that_ much though, I'll help you with whatever you need. But for now, you two need to get the hell out of my kitchen."

After many protests and complaints from Evangeline, and Amy had successfully kicked us out, Evangeline and I found ourselves strolling along down a corridor on the South wing of the house.

"You really love her don't you?" Evangeline said after a minute.

Wordlessly I nodded. I wished I could do more. A nod couldn't do justice for the way I felt about Wanderer.

Evangeline gave a great big sigh. "I knew you cared about her. You brought her to meet _us_. So I knew it was serious. I just never thought..." She trailed off.

I decided to offer an explanation. "Let's put it this way Evangeline. If I don't find her, I'm either going to look for her for the rest of my life and never give up, or go jump off a 20 story building _without_ a parachute."

If I was being honest with myself, I wasn't sure that I was entirely kidding about the second half of my statement. Evangeline realized this too. "Well I guess we had better find this girl. What's the first plan of action, Commander?"

I grinned. It felt strained, and it hurt a little, but it was still a smile. It was nice to have Evangeline on board with my insane plan. I was right to come here. To come _home_.

"Well," I began, "I really want to get that file. I figure that Wanderer's whereabouts will be in there, along with any extra information I might need."

Evangeline stopped walking and looked at me. "If you want to get that file, you know you'll have to talk to _Them_. This is _Their_ specialty."

I groaned. "I do _not _want to see _Them_. I do _not_ want to see mom and dad."

"We all know that _They_ work for the devil himself, but this is the quickest way to find Wanderer."

I was very disappointed by Evangeline's line of logic. She was right though. If I ever wanted to see Wanderer again, I would have to confront our parents.

Uhg. Sadly, they were still alive and uninhabited by souls. None of us would have been sorry to see them go.

"Alright. I drive out in a few days and see them."

Evangeline smiled. "I'm coming with you too, bro. Don't bother trying to stop me. I care about Wanderer too, ya know. You'll also need some help trying to talk sense into mom and dad. Plus, _someone _has to make sure you don't jump off a cliff. I'll be just a teensy bit upset if _that_ happens."

And with that, she reached up to ruffle my hair they way we used to when we wanted to annoy each other, and ran off of down the corridor.

**I am perfectly aware that many of you would like my head on a platter. A thousand apologies. :( Hope you'll forgive me. I've been absorbed in my other Host fanfic, Sticky Situations, and this one just fell out of my head for a while... For a long while. Sorry. **

**FYI, I will be making major edits on L&F soon. So I might take down a few chaps temporarily. I'm considering rewriting the whole story? There are too many mistakes and too many parts that displease me. What do you guys think?**

**I can't believe I have the nerve to ask this but, review? Please? :)**

**Host rocks my socks!**


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